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Matt Reeves In Talks To Direct The Batman, Replacing Ben Affleck

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A few weeks ago there was a lot of surprise when it was announced that after months of developing the movie, Ben Affleck was stepping down from the director’s chair of The Batman. That was followed by rumours that Warner Bros. didn’t like the script, Affleck may have been looking for a way out of playing Batman completely, and the film may never happen.

More recently though it’s been suggested that actually Warner is still big on the movie, and that Affleck is happy to star, but felt he couldn’t direct this one as well and give both roles the attention they deserve. That’s now been backed up by the news that Matt Reeves, director of Cloverfield, Let Me In, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes and the upcoming War for the Planet of the Apes is in talks to help the movie, according to THR.

It’s not a done deal yet and apparently other directors such as Ridley Scott and Fede Alvarez have been talked about in connection with the movie, but at the moment Warner wants Reeves.

It’s not 100% sure when we’ll see the movie. Warner apparently wants to still shoot this year, but Reeves will be busy until the summer working on the latest Planet Of The Apes pic, so thing may not kick off on The Batman until well after that.

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New Justice League Pic Shows Batman, Wonder Woman & The Flash

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It’s been easy to forget that in less than a year, DC/Warner will be really upping their game with Justice League, which will bring together the likes of Batman, Wonder Woman, The Flash, Superman, Aquaman and Cyborg. To remind us, a new pic has arrived via EW, showing the first three of those superheroes lining up.

Of course, before next November’s Justice League, Wonder Woman will be getting her own standalone movie next June, while solo movies for the other characters are already mapped between now and 2019. DC will be hoping these film are better received than than the likes of Batman v Superman and Suicide Squad, which made decent amounts of cash, but haven’t been able to dent Marvel’s superiority in the critical and fanboy stakes.

The Justice League mash-up certainly has plenty of potential though. Expect it in cinemas next November.

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New Live By Night Trailer – Ben Affleck directs a Prohibition era crime thriller

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live-by-night-slideBen Affleck has been working on bringing Live By Night to the big screen for around four years. Now it’s preparing for its release, with Affleck hoping it’ll be as well received as his last directorial effort, Argo.

Here’s the synopsis: ‘Oscar winner Ben Affleck (“Argo”) directed and stars in the dramatic crime thriller “Live by Night.” Affleck also wrote the screenplay, based on the award-winning best-seller by Dennis Lehane; it marks the second collaboration for the fellow Boston natives, following the acclaimed drama “Gone Baby Gone.”

‘“Live by Night” is set in the roaring `20s when Prohibition hasn’t stopped the flow of booze in an underground network of gangster-run speakeasies. The opportunity to gain power and money is there for any man with enough ambition and nerve and Joe Coughlin, the son of the Boston Police Superintendent, long ago turned his back on his strict upbringing for the spoils of being an outlaw. But even among criminals there are rules and Joe breaks a big one: crossing a powerful mob boss by stealing his money and his moll. The fiery affair ends in tragedy, setting Joe on a path of revenge, ambition, romance and betrayal that propels him out of Boston and up the ladder of Tampa’s steamy rum-running underworld.

Starring with Affleck are Elle Fanning (“Maleficent”), Brendan Gleeson (“In the Heart of the Sea,” the “Harry Potter” films), Chris Messina (“Argo,” “The Mindy Project”), Sienna Miller (“American Sniper,” “Foxcatcher”), Zoe Saldana (“Guardians of the Galaxy,” “Avatar”), and Oscar winner Chris Cooper (“Adaptation,” “The Town”).’

The film will be in UK cinemas in January. [Read more…]

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Live By Night Trailer – Ben Affleck directs a Prohibition era crime thriller

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live-by-night-poster1-slideBen Affleck has been working on bringing Live By Night to the big screen for around four years. Now it’s preparing for its release, with Affleck hoping it’ll be as well received as his last directorial effort, Argo.

Here’s the synopsis: ‘Oscar winner Ben Affleck (“Argo”) directed and stars in the dramatic crime thriller “Live by Night.” Affleck also wrote the screenplay, based on the award-winning best-seller by Dennis Lehane; it marks the second collaboration for the fellow Boston natives, following the acclaimed drama “Gone Baby Gone.”

‘“Live by Night” is set in the roaring `20s when Prohibition hasn’t stopped the flow of booze in an underground network of gangster-run speakeasies. The opportunity to gain power and money is there for any man with enough ambition and nerve and Joe Coughlin, the son of the Boston Police Superintendent, long ago turned his back on his strict upbringing for the spoils of being an outlaw. But even among criminals there are rules and Joe breaks a big one: crossing a powerful mob boss by stealing his money and his moll. The fiery affair ends in tragedy, setting Joe on a path of revenge, ambition, romance and betrayal that propels him out of Boston and up the ladder of Tampa’s steamy rum-running underworld.

Starring with Affleck are Elle Fanning (“Maleficent”), Brendan Gleeson (“In the Heart of the Sea,” the “Harry Potter” films), Chris Messina (“Argo,” “The Mindy Project”), Sienna Miller (“American Sniper,” “Foxcatcher”), Zoe Saldana (“Guardians of the Galaxy,” “Avatar”), and Oscar winner Chris Cooper (“Adaptation,” “The Town”).’

The film will be in UK cinemas in January. [Read more…]

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Ben Affleck To Star In & Direct Witness For The Prosecution Remake

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ben-affleckAfter seeing his career in the doldrums, Ben Affleck has certainly made a spectacular comeback, as he’s now much in demand as both an actor and a director. Now he’s set to take both roles in a new take on Agatha Christie’s Witness For The Prosecution, according to Variety.

Christie’s short story was previously made into a movie in 1957 by director Biilly Wilder, starring Tyrone Power, Marlene Dietrich, Elsa Lanchester and Charles Laughton. It was set ‘in the Old Bailey in London, Laughton plays a lawyer who represents a man (Power) accused of murdering a rich widow who had become enamored with him and made him the main beneficiary of her will.’

There’s no news on whether the new version will change this setup, such as movie it to the modern day or relocating it to the US. It’s not clear either what role Affleck will play.

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Batman v Superman: Dawn Of Justice – Ultimate Edition (Blu-ray Review)

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batman-v-superman-face-off-slideStarring: Ben Affleck, Henry Cavill, Gal Gadot, Jesse Eisenberg, Amy Adams
Directed By: Zack Snyder
Running Time: 182 mins
BBFC Certificate: 15
UK Release Date: August 1st 2016 (UK)

Our Score

As they say, ‘The higher you climb, the further there is to fall’. That’s a fair description of Batman v Superman, a film that you certainly can’t fault for its ambition, but which can’t reach the heights it strives for despite its best efforts. After an exceedingly mixed reaction at cinemas, the film comes to Blu-ray in an Ultimate Edition form, which adds in an extra 30 minutes of footage and adds back in some of the violence that US censors wouldn’t permit to get it a PG-13 certificate.

Some hoped this new version would rectify all the flaws of the theatrical cut. It doesn’t do that, but it does help a little, particularly with some of the subplots where the theatrical version had to bits of them, but where they either petered out or didn’t make a whole lot of sense. It does add a couple of extra problems though. [Read more…]

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